Juneteenth celebrations 2021: 11 events happening around the Valley
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and last updated 2021-06-16 19:48:29-04
PHOENIX â Juneteenth, a mix between the words June and nineteenth, marks the day that the last enslaved people in Galveston, Texas learned of their freedom.
Issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation stated that all enslaved people in Confederate states âshall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.â However, the Emancipation Proclamation didnât immediately take effect and it took over two years for the news to travel to Texas.
On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger delivered the news freeing over 250,000 enslaved people in Texas. In the following year on June 19, freedmen in the state held âJubilee Day,â which later became known as the first official Juneteenth celebration.